Michigan Votes roll call report

To expand certain exemptions to a state wetland permit mandate, increase some wetland permit fees and reduce others, require permit denials to document their rationale and authority, authorize grants to local governments to create wetland mitigation banks, slightly reduce wetland regulatory burdens imposed on county drain commission projects, slightly increase the state’s burden to justify restrictions on an owner’s use of his or her property, prohibit the Department of Environmental Quality from imposing regulations that are beyond the scope those required by federal law, and make other changes to these land use restrictions.

31 Sen. Michael Green R - Mayville Y

32 Sen. Roger Kahn R - Saginaw N

35 Sen. Darwin Booher R - Evart N

36 Sen. John Moolenaar R - Midland Y

House Bill 4042, Require match of welfare applicants against incarceration lists: Passed 37 to 1 in the Senate

To require the Department of Human Services to perform a monthly jail and prison incarceration match and Social Security death match to help determine eligibility for a welfare and food stamp benefit bridge cards, and not issue or revoke the card of a person on those lists. This would codify current practice in statute.

To extend from 2014 to 2018 the sunset on a 1 percent health insurance claims tax intended to “game” the federal Medicaid system in ways that result in higher federal payments to Michigan’s medical welfare system. As introduced the bill would have eliminated the sunset and empowered the Department of Treasury to raise the tax without any further authorization by the legislature.

93 Rep. Tom Leonard R - DeWitt Township N

94 Rep. Tim Kelly R - Saginaw Township Y

95 Rep. Stacy Erwin Oakes D - Saginaw Y

96 Rep. Charles Brunner D - Bay City N

97 Rep. Joel Johnson R - Clare Y

98 Rep. Jim Stamas R - Midland Y

99 Rep. Kevin Cotter R - Mt. Pleasant N

Senate Bill 165, Require disclosure of medical futility policies: Passed 108 to 0 in the House

To require a hospital, health facility or agency that maintains a written policy that encourages or allows a health care professional to withhold or discontinue treatment on the grounds of medical futility to provide a copy of the policy to a patient or resident upon request.

To explicitly include among the duties of the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture that they work together to jointly promote development of the state’s forest products industry.

To expand the eligibility for certain forest property tax breaks, increase their value, increase the number of acres eligible for the tax breaks (by means of new exemptions from an existing 1.2 million acre cap), authorize a new 2 mill property tax on property in this program that would go to a proposed private forestland enhancement fund to subsidize private forestland management activities, and more. This and related bills are designed to facilitate use of a program granting property tax exemptions to owners of smaller “non-industrial” sized parcels of forestland, rather than one designed for owners of much larger “industrial” forests.

93 Rep. Tom Leonard R - DeWitt Township Y

94 Rep. Tim Kelly R - Saginaw Township Y

95 Rep. Stacy Erwin Oakes D - Saginaw Y

96 Rep. Charles Brunner D - Bay City N

97 Rep. Joel Johnson R - Clare Y

98 Rep. Jim Stamas R - Midland Y

99 Rep. Kevin Cotter R - Mt. Pleasant Y

SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, non-partisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, that aims to provide concise, non-partisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. www.MichiganVotes.org